Author Topic: Lemmings Multiplayer Online Game Plan (Read 16548 times)

EricLang · « **on:** March 15, 2009, 01:54:15 PM »

This idea is itching my brain all the time:

I would like to create a multiplayer online version of lemmings (or other creatures if I run into legal problems).
The project is far to much work for one person so what I need is a team!
If there are any programmers who would like to join give me an e-mail:

ericlangedijk (at) gmail (dot) com

I already got two persons who are interested.
1. A Wild Idea Manager
2. Someone who is willing to try and create new pictures of animations / terrain / traps

ccexplore? mindless? Volker Oth? What about you?

The idea is to create new levels, designed for multiiple users who have to work together to solve a level. Different colors of lemmings are controlled by the different players.
Another idea is the opposite: a race in which you can try to do damage to other people's lemmings and you try to reach the required percentage first.
A third idea is to do a race: who is first or who is smartest.
Of course online statistics will be made for all users: who is the best

I'm also thinking of users who are able to create levels and upload them, so that everyone can play them.

Adam · « **Reply #1 on:** March 15, 2009, 02:39:53 PM »

This certainly does interest me. I've always thought that multiplayer lemmings would be a great idea!

I can't say that I'd be very useful, but if there is anything I'd be able to do to help, I'm willing to give anything a shot to get this off the ground!

Dullstar · « **Reply #2 on:** March 15, 2009, 07:57:18 PM »

Well, good luck with that, I have no idea how the heck you would do that.

P.S., Mr. K., you might want to know that the smileys don't work.

EricLang · « **Reply #3 on:** March 15, 2009, 08:01:16 PM »

Adders: Very good. In what way do you think you could be useful?

Adam · « **Reply #4 on:** March 15, 2009, 08:27:40 PM »

I have a few ideas for how levels could work, I'm pretty good with graphic editing, and if required, I have a lot of spare webspace / bandwidth!

I can't code to save my life though

I also have a LOT of spare time at the moment!

Dullstar · « **Reply #5 on:** March 15, 2009, 08:29:57 PM »

If you can code, you are a genius,
I imagine you'd be able to do it with MMF or Construct, though.
Here's a link to the construct website.

http://scirra.com/

(from the looks of things, nothings working right here.)

Well, since that probably is not a link, put that in the address bar.

I am willing to help minimally. If you can't make a certain thing, I can suggest a program that can.

HOLY CRAP, THAT IS A LINK!!!

EricLang · « **Reply #6 on:** March 16, 2009, 08:53:10 AM »

Ok Adders PM me your email address and I'll put you on the list of The New Age Lemmings Team

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #7 on:** March 16, 2009, 10:56:52 PM »

While I'm not expressly volunteering myself at this point, I would like to direct your attention to this conversation from before the server had its most recent downtime. If there's enough support and activity for the project, I'd be happy to start it up ahead of time.

Mindless · « **Reply #8 on:** March 16, 2009, 11:04:25 PM »

Quote from: EricLang on March 15, 2009, 01:54:15 PM

ccexplore? mindless? Volker Oth? What about you?

At the moment, I don't have the free time to devote to such a project. Depending on what my summer job is, I might have time then. I assume it'll be an open-source project on SourceForge or Google Code, so hopping in in the middle of development shouldn't be too difficult.

EricLang · « **Reply #9 on:** March 17, 2009, 12:31:02 AM »

I raced through the post you linked to, GuyPerfect.
All mechanics and skills have to be reconsidered of course, even the creature "Lemming" which is probably copyrighted. Uploading user-made levels, which can be played by everyone (singleplayer or multiplayer) should be nice (levels which could be a clone of the original game of course

)
It's all on a voluntary basis, and if you have experience with game programming you're most welcome

Mindless: if the project is ever going to start you can hop in any time.

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #10 on:** March 17, 2009, 05:07:10 PM »

For a property as long-established, widely-known and ultimately trivial as Lemmings, I highly doubt you'll be hit with any cease-and-desist orders from Sony even if you did make a fan game based on the franchise. If you're still not comfortable going through with what I've got planned up in that other thread, then that's not the project for you. (-:

Dullstar · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2009, 02:20:41 AM »

So, basically, you are going to code it...

Good luck, because I have no idea where to find good tutorials.

Clam · « **Reply #12 on:** May 02, 2009, 02:48:44 AM »

Out of interest, does anyone have screenshots of the original two-player levels from the Amiga version? I've found a couple of Youtube videos, but these don't give a good view of the whole map, and most of the levels aren't on there.

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #13 on:** May 02, 2009, 07:18:33 AM »

Scroll bar should be at the bottom of the page.

Level 1: There can be only one

Level 2: Still everything to play for

Level 3: In the thick of the fray

Level 4: Game on! Choose your tactics.

Level 5: Good game! Good game!

Clam · « **Reply #14 on:** May 02, 2009, 08:14:16 AM »

Awesome, thanks for that! (I presume the rest are on the way?)

One thing that strikes me immediately is the asymmetry (albeit minor) in some levels. I know this is a result of the limited tilesets, but I think for a balanced multiplayer game, perfect symmetry is an absolute must - even a small difference in terrain could potentially be exploited. Also, in the videos I watched just now, it looked like the lemmings from one side start entering the level before the other side - also not ideal.

Do you know the skill sets for these levels?

Also, @OP:

Quote from: EricLang on March 15, 2009, 01:54:15 PM

a race in which you can try to do damage to other people's lemmings and you try to reach the required percentage first.

Would it not make more sense to get more lemmings to your exit than your opponent - maybe within a (somewhat generous) time limit - rather than trying to reach a certain percentage first?

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #15 on:** May 02, 2009, 05:54:02 PM »

Quote from: Clam Spammer

Awesome, thanks for that! (I presume the rest are on the way?)

Unless there's something I don't know about, that's all of 'em.

Quote from: Clam Spammer

Also, in the videos I watched just now, it looked like the lemmings from one side start entering the level before the other side - also not ideal.

Green and blue alternate when entering. Green comes out first and starts to the left; blue starts to the right.

Quote from: Clam Spammer

Do you know the skill sets for these levels?

Ridiculously large amounts of everything. Usually 20 for all, though that third level gives each player 80 Builders. There are probably a few other alterations, though you don't exactly have to budget what skills you have available

Dullstar · « **Reply #16 on:** May 02, 2009, 10:10:13 PM »

Quote from: Clam Spammer on May 02, 2009, 08:14:16 AM

Would it not make more sense to get more lemmings to your exit than your opponent - maybe within a (somewhat generous) time limit - rather than trying to reach a certain percentage first?

I think that's what it does, actually.

Clam · « **Reply #17 on:** May 02, 2009, 11:09:10 PM »

I'm reliably informed that there are 20 of these levels. And the four I saw on Youtube are all different to the ones you just posted.

Quote from: Dullstar

I think that's what it does, actually.

That seems to be what the original game did, but the idea proposed in the OP was something different.

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #18 on:** May 02, 2009, 11:17:30 PM »

Gimme instructions on how to access the other 15 and I'll hook you up with pictures. The game ended after the fifth and a new game went back to the first.

Clam · « **Reply #19 on:** May 03, 2009, 12:55:16 AM »

That contradicts my "reliable source" (did you catch the link in my last post? They don't show up very well.) Anyway, it turns out the YouTube videos are from the SNES game, though that might have used the same levels as the Amiga version. I'm afraid I can't help you out here since I don't have a SNES or Amiga, and I've never used either one before.

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #20 on:** May 03, 2009, 06:09:15 AM »

Pff. Wikipedia's good at making assumptions without actually checking to see if they're correct. Notice how it mentions that the Sports tribe has a bouncy/uppity background music? It's unusually melancholy in all versions but the SNES port, which means the author only checked the SNES tune, which I suspect was downloaded illegally and tested in ZSNES. (-:

I got those images from the Amiga version, which is the one you specifically asked for. And given the names for the levels, I'm going to say that those are probably the only multiplayer levels in the game.

Clam · « **Reply #21 on:** May 03, 2009, 06:46:39 AM »

Hence why I put "reliable source" in quotation marks

. If there's no more then that's okay, at least we have something to go on. I have no idea how one of these would play out in practice though, with two skilled players going for it. The Youtube ones were decent, but the lack of mouse control (if indeed it was on SNES) is quite limiting.

Thanks again

Dullstar · « **Reply #22 on:** May 03, 2009, 07:33:26 PM »

Sometimes Wikipedia is right, sometimes it is wrong. Once I saw this on a page for "Kitty"

Kitty can refer to...

...
Kitten - A young cat, also known as the master of small pets they pur to atract a mate and wif that pur they make babys.

EDIT: I can't remember what the spelling and grammatical errors were, so I guessed what it originally said before I fixed it.

I fixed that one up a bit, and changed it to:

Kitten - A young cat, also known as the master of small pets [citation needed].

Since then, someone fixed it so it just says "A young cat."

For the most part, it's not too bad, but sometimes people do put up some weird stuff. Usually you can tell if something is likely to be true or not, because usually the falsest stuff on there is so stupid you can tell it's not true. And if you aren't sure, you can always edit the page to add in: [Citation Needed]!

Clam · « **Reply #23 on:** May 04, 2009, 05:35:20 AM »

All right! I've found a Japanese webpage with pictures and descriptions of all 20 two-player levels. Link

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #24 on:** May 04, 2009, 08:32:06 PM »

*Ponder*

You know, I think when I took those screens, I let all the Lemmings die in the fifth level just to move onto the next. That'd explain why the game ended, wouldn't it?

Clam · « **Reply #25 on:** May 05, 2009, 12:06:24 AM »

Quote from: Wikipedia

Gameplay cycles through the 20 levels until neither player gets any lemmings home.

Yes, that would explain it. Oh well, we have all the pics now. And some good Engrish too

Mindless · « **Reply #26 on:** May 05, 2009, 05:32:06 AM »

Quote from: Clam Spammer on May 04, 2009, 05:35:20 AM

<snip> all 20 two-player levels <snip>

a while back, I ripped all the level files from the Amiga games, the 2-player levels are in there.

Clam · « **Reply #27 on:** May 05, 2009, 06:05:21 AM »

Wow... That's fantastic!

I'll link you to the Youtube videos, so you can see the levels in action. Keep in mind these guys played the SNES version, which means no mouse and therefore less control. (Even so, some of their play was very poor...)

Level 9 - The Pipe Room
Level 13 - Cross-over Point
Level 14 - The Passing Place
Level 19 - May the craftiest player win

And level 17 has different graffiti in the Japanese version

Dullstar · « **Reply #28 on:** May 05, 2009, 11:05:31 PM »

It's better than the Amiga version two-player on an emulator. It doesn't even seem to support a second player.

Clam · « **Reply #29 on:** May 07, 2009, 05:35:37 AM »

Just so you know, I'll be willing to put my time and level design experience into this if I don't get tied up in GuyPerfect's project (if that goes ahead). After watching those videos, I'm really curious about multiplayer lemmings and how it could work. And, as you've most likely seen from the other thread, I have heaps of ideas of things that could go into a new Lemmings game

Dullstar · « **Reply #30 on:** May 07, 2009, 08:43:17 PM »

It could be quite neat, though. Though I think the best idea is for whoever does this to go into GuyPerfect's project if it doesn't go on. That would suck though, wouldn't it, Clam Spammer?

Clam · « **Reply #31 on:** May 09, 2009, 12:15:16 AM »

It seems GuyPerfect has made his decision. If you have any vacancies for level designers, then I'd be happy to join. I know next to nothing about programming, so I'm afraid I won't be able to contribute much until the time comes to make the levels, or at least when the skill set is finalised. And remember that most of the ideas brought up in the Perfect Blend thread could apply here. Plus I still have more ideas of ways to improve the game

Can you give us an update? It's been nearly a month since you last posted about it. Has the project started yet?

Dullstar · « **Reply #32 on:** May 09, 2009, 04:22:42 PM »

Something tells me this project's dead too.

GuyPerfect · « **Reply #33 on:** May 09, 2009, 05:16:16 PM »

For the record, mine was never alive to begin with. (-:

Dullstar · « **Reply #34 on:** May 10, 2009, 01:32:14 AM »

Quote from: GuyPerfect on May 09, 2009, 05:16:16 PM

For the record, mine was never alive to begin with. (-:

Has this one ever been actually alive?

Dullstar · « **Reply #35 on:** May 10, 2009, 01:38:43 AM »

Quote from: EricLang on March 15, 2009, 01:54:15 PM

This idea is itching my brain all the time:

I would like to create a multiplayer online version of lemmings (or other creatures if I run into legal problems).
The project is far to much work for one person so what I need is a team!
If there are any programmers who would like to join give me an e-mail:

ericlangedijk (at) gmail (dot) com

I already got two persons who are interested.
1. A Wild Idea Manager
2. Someone who is willing to try and create new pictures of animations / terrain / traps

ccexplore? mindless? Volker Oth? What about you?

The idea is to create new levels, designed for multiiple users who have to work together to solve a level. Different colors of lemmings are controlled by the different players.
Another idea is the opposite: a race in which you can try to do damage to other people's lemmings and you try to reach the required percentage first.
A third idea is to do a race: who is first or who is smartest.
Of course online statistics will be made for all users: who is the best
I'm also thinking of users who are able to create levels and upload them, so that everyone can play them.

If you ever actually carry this project on, I'll test, and, if I don't have to program in any way using actual programming language, I can help with the level designing (also, if you'd like, I'll be fine with you using any levels I make for other purposes, if you give me credit).